Not Applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to article carriers and more specifically to a vehicle roof rack kit that permits the carriage of articles such as ladders.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Article carriers that mount to the top of automobiles and trucks are well known. These carriers are adapted to carry a wide variety of cargos. A very common article that is carried on the top of cars and utility vehicles is the ladder. The extreme length of a ladder, its narrowness and its thin profile creates a challenge to a conventional roof mounted vehicle carrying rack. The ladder must be secured to prevent movement that could damage the ladder as well as create a safety hazard. A number of solutions have been proposed to secure ladders to the roof of cars and other vehicles. One such solution is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,672,612 xe2x80x9cLadder Latching Devicexe2x80x9d issued to Clyde A. Laing, Jr. on Jun. 27, 1972. Laing teaches a latching device for securing a ladder to a vehicle having a rack attached to it. The latching device is secured to the ladder and comprises a rotatable shaft secured to the side rails of the ladder. The shaft has a handle mounted to it that can be secured to the side rail of the ladder by means of a hook. A pivoting arm is attached to the centre of the rotating shaft and a hook is attached to the arm. The hook is engaged with the cross member of the rack and the action of rotating the handle to its locked position has the result of pressing the hooked cross member and the ladder into a tightly fixed relationship.
Another example of a known ladder rack is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,390,117 xe2x80x9cLadder Rack for Vehiclexe2x80x9d issued to Fagan on Jun. 28, 1983. Fagan teaches a ladder rack for a vehicle roof comprising a plurality of front and rear ladder support assembly pairs. Each pair of assemblies is adapted to support the front and rear portions of a ladder by releasable engagement of the ladder stringers or rungs.
Another example of known ladder racks is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,083 xe2x80x9cLadder Clamping Device for Vehicle Rackxe2x80x9d issued to Weger on Oct. 21, 1986. Weger teaches a device comprising front framing members that hold a selected front rung of the ladder in position and a rear clamping mechanism to downwardly engage a selected rear rung of the ladder.
The above-cited and heretofore known ladder rack devices share a number of disadvantages:
1. The previously known ladder racks require the use of a plurality of interacting parts thereby increasing the complexity of operation of the device, its cost of manufacture and its proneness to mechanical failure.
2. These racks require the use of forces against either the ladder rung members or the cross members of the vehicle rack making such members vulnerable to plastic deformation.
3. The known racks are difficult to produce as a kit because of the large number of parts and complex design they employ. Such a kit would be expensive to purchase and more than likely not suitable to casual use by the occasional user.
4. The known racks require different attaching devices for the front and rear portions of the ladder. This lack of uniformity leads to expensive manufacturing.
Therefore there is a continued need for a ladder holding device for a vehicle rack that is simple to use and inexpensive to make. There is further a need for a ladder rack that does not unnecessarily stress ladder components or those of the automobile rack.
In accordance with the present invention there is provided a vehicle roof rack kit suitable for carrying a ladder and like objects. The kit comprises a plurality of identical assemblies. Generally there must be at least two assemblies to secure the front and the back of the ladder, however, more may be used if desired. These assemblies are adapted for securing an object to said assemblies and are releasably attached to the cross members of the roof rack.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention each assembly comprises a carrier for receiving and releasably holding an object. Securing means is provided to secure the object within said carrier. The object may be locked into the carrier. Means are also provided to mount the carrier assemblies to the roof racks.
In yet another embodiment of my invention, the carrier is adapted to receive and hold an object. The carrier is channel shaped having two opposing parallel and vertical side members in a spaced apart relationship and a flat bottom member. The sides are apertured to receive securing means said apertures located in positional agreement to each other in the top portion of each side member. The securing means comprises a rod having a first end and a second end. Only the first end is insertable into the apertures. The rod has a diameter slightly smaller than that of the apertures.
In still another embodiment of my invention there is included a resilient bushing member having a top surface and a bottom surface insertable engaged in a tight sliding relationship with the parallel side members of the carrier so that the bottom surface of the bushing abuts in frictional engagement the top surface of the object being held within the carrier. The top surface of the bushing abuts in pressed engagement against the bottom surface of the inserted rod the result being that significant lateral and vertical vibrations of the object within the carrier are dampened when the vehicle is moving thereby preventing damage to the object. The bushing may also be bored with a plurality of bores passing through the bushing so that when the bushing is inserted between the vertical side members of the carrier the bores of the bushing are in alignment with the apertures in the vertical side members of the carrier the result being that the rod may be inserted between the vertical side members and through the bushing thereby keeping the bushing is a secure abutting relationship with the object within the carrier.
In another embodiment of my invention, the carriage assemblies are fastened to the vehicle rack cross members using a shackle bolt. The threaded ends of the bolt are received by a pair of apertures in the bottom member of the carrier. The threaded ends of the bolt are adapted to receive a nut and lock washer combination.
Accordingly, some objects and advantages of my invention are:
1. to provide a simple device that can be used with existing vehicle roof racks to secure objects;
2. to provide an auto rack kit for carrying a ladder that is easy to use and inexpensive to manufacture;
3. to provide an auto rack kit that does not apply deforming stresses to the structural members of a ladder or to the cross members of the vehicle rack; and,
4. to provide an auto rack that is securely lockable.
Further objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description and drawings.